Jesse Petersen – Married with zombies

The first book in the Living with the Dead series, published September 1, 2010.
Genre: urban fantasy
Cover: fun



Meet Sarah and David.
Once upon a time they met and fell in love. But now they're on the verge of divorce and going to couples' counseling. On a routine trip to their counselor, they notice a few odd things - the lack of cars on the highway, the missing security guard, and the fact that their counselor, Dr. Kelly, is ripping out her previous client's throat.
Meet the Zombies.
Now, Sarah and David are fighting for survival in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. But, just because there are zombies, doesn't mean your other problems go away. If the zombies don't eat their brains, they might just kill each other.


I don’t like zombies. I don’t like reading about zombies. I don’t like movies with zombies. So I never planned on reading this book. But then I won this autographed copy, and so I had to read it. That is my rule, you win it, you read it, or you let someone else win it instead. I never expected to like it, but I did. A lot.

Sarah and David have been married for a few years now, and their plans for the future came to nothing when David dropped out of school and Sarah had to keep on working to support them both. David is not having any goals whatsoever, not looking for a job, and Sarah has had it. She still loves him sometimes, but it just is not enough. Every little thing the other does is irritating them at the moment, and all the money going to their marriage counsellor seems like a waste of good money.
When Sarah googled for divorce attorney’s in the neighbourhood, she noticed that search had been done before … so she is not the only one looking to end it. But then their world falls apart, when they encounter zombies and have to fight for their lives. It only takes 10 to 30 minutes for a bitten person to become a zombie themselves, so the plague is spreading incredibly fast. They will have to leave the city and go to less populated areas where there will be less zombies roaming the streets, to have a chance at survival, but that is not so easy. The highways are crowded with abandoned cars, and zombies are everywhere. Even in their own apartment bathroom, as Sarah discovers to her horror. She has to kill their neighbour, and David’s friend, although she never liked him. And then they have to take care of his girlfriend, Amanda, who is a sweet girl but not very smart.
Lucky for them, the dead guy had a closet full of weapons that come in very handy. And so their roadtrip to hell starts …


I so enjoyed this book, and I really did not expect to. Yes, there is lots of gore and blood and brains and stuff, and it is gross at times, and it has lots of scare effects when a zombie appears suddenly. But I love how Sarah and David stay cool and just kill them and save themselves or the other. And suddenly, all the marriage counselling advice seems to come in handy. They start to trust the other again, and have to rely on each other just to survive. It is action packed and fun to read, and I really like Sarah. And yes, I would even pick up the next book in the series if I saw it somewhere on sale.

I like Jesse Petersen’s writing style, it is fun and light and snarky and very easy to keep on reading. They met all kind of people on their journey, and at times it was very sad what had to be done to survive. But it was still a fun book.

8 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian